Jesus' Death

Between earth and heaven there is a cross, and on that cross God meets with humanity.

When Jesus came to earth he literally emptied himself of his power and status, becoming a human being in the midst of poverty. He accepted his destiny to stand before his nation's rulers to be beaten and crucified as criminal on a Roman cross. This was his destiny because God had designed from all eternity to set Jesus up as a sacrifice - one who would take our sins upon himself so that those sins might be destroyed with Jesus as he died. God placed all of our sins on Jesus and therefore all of our sins died with him. Because our sins were crucified with Jesus on the cross, God can and does offer us the gift of forgiveness.

SCRIPTURE FOR CONSIDERATION

There is another way to look at the work of God through Jesus. Jesus represented all of humanity as he was beaten and as he died. He represented all of humanity when he was buried and when God raised him from the dead. The early Christian writer Paul used this idea for the very core of his teaching. In the letter that Paul wrote to the Roman church of his day he said, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him...(Romans 6:5-8)."